Congrats on the races girls you rock ...

I have a neck gaiter, I didn't even know that's what they were called ... I got it at a running store, it's very thin made of wick away material, I never wear it over my nose and mouth though because it fogs my glasses, I always wear sunglasses. But I do love it, it keeps the chill out of my neck, when I run in -20c/-4f, I usually start wearing it when it gets to -10c/ 14f or so...

Here's my half marathon race report, if you are interested ....
It was a lovely day for a race yesterday morning – clear, mid-60’s, with a light breeze off the ocean. It was the 131 Ft. Lauderdale, one of a series of half-marathon-only events that are held in various cities through the year. The race was a nice mid-size event, with about 2200 runners. There are enough participants to be interesting, but not so many that you feel overcrowded all of the time.

I caught up with several of my running friends and we hung out before the race, chatting. That surely makes the time pass faster! The race started on time, right at 6:13 am. Why 6:13 am you ask? No one knows for sure … just one of those arcane things, I guess. That, or synchronizing with train schedules, perhaps.

The race took us through the tunnel on US1 under the New River – now that was cool! We ran through Ft. Lauderdale, down Las Olas and over the bridge to A1A. Most of the race was running north and south along the ocean on A1A. It was so beautiful, with the sun rising over the ocean, a wonderful day to be alive and moving! At those times I feel incredibly blessed to be able just to run free; healthy and strong. I just never take that for granted.

I had absolutely no idea what my finishing time would be, not having raced since last spring. I’ve been running lots of mileage, but haven’t been doing speed-work, so I wasn’t expecting to be very quick. Not that I really cared anyway! But I felt great, and kept a comfortably-hard pace throughout, pushed it at the end, and ended up finishing at a little over 2:03 (9:26 min/mile pace) -- my second-best time ever, less than two minutes slower than my PR! I was pleasantly surprised to do so well. After training in the heat for so long, the cooler weather just felt wonderful.

Now I have another shiny medal to add to my box of glory.
Congratulations to everyone who raced this weekend!!

Congrats MBN! I'm glad you had a great race and your time is awesome! I wish it was still in the 60's here...it's down in the low 30's and windy as heck....BRRRRRR! Still no snow though....

I can't believe that november is almost done! It's not even thanksgiving yet, and all the stores are already shoving christmas in our faces....sigh.... I have a really yummy turkey recipe I got from clean eating magazine that I am going to attempt to make. This will be my first year making thanksgiving dinner my husband likes to cook these types of meals so he will be helping as well. He actually made the entire dinner last year because I was sick as a dog. He made so much food and it was just the two of us and I wasn't able to eat much. This year we are having one of his single friends join us so hopefully there won't be as many left overs. I'm not sure why I just went on this turkey day ramble... lol sorry!

I start week 4 of c25k on Tuesday. I'm excited! I have a spinning class to do this afternoon and while I'm at the gym I will weigh myself and see if I made it to ONEDERLAND! heh...I love smileys!

Have a good Monday everyone!

Let me start off by saying that my actual chip time was 2:41. The clock at the finish line read 2:15:09 which is where I got the time from, but apparently it was wrong. With that being said this is how my race went:

I totally underestimated the amount of people going to be there, so it took a little longer to get to Corral 4. The whole time at the starting line I was saying to myself “I can’t believe I am running 13 miles, I can’t believe I am running 13 miles…” Once the gun went off we started gradually moving up to the fron and before you know it I was running.

It was a slight drizzle out the first half of the race at about 60ish degrees. I was fine though, I had on my new Under Armour gear  . I had a game plan to walk if need be , just as long as I finished. Turns out I didn’t need to. When I got to mile five I realized I had adjusted to running outside and I was doing just fine. I guess I didn’t notice before because my mind was so busy.

There were hills, yeah I have never run hills, ever. We don’t have any around here. But I just kep trucking. By mile 9 I was sort of delirious, in the sense that my legs were just running on their own. But when I saw mile marker 10 I was just broke out like a bat out of ****. I said, “its just a freaking 5K , I do them all the time”.

When I finished the race (other than legs feeling like gravel being ground inside of them) I felt like I had just conquered the world. I can’t exactly describe the feeling I had. It was sooo amazing. I have been wanting to run ever since, but legs are dead. So I will pick it up tomorrow. I am running the shamrock half in march so my goal is to make it under 2:30.

BTW I can see myself running a marathon in the next couple years totally!

Good LUCK EVE!

MBN - I am glad you had such a wonderful race....2:03 is freaking awsome!

Cakebatter - I ran my first half marathon right about 2:40. I was ecstatic to make the 3 hour cut-off time! A year or so later, it was 2:26. And now, several years after that, 2:0-something. Who'd-uv ever thunk it?? Not me!!

Just a very short time ago, I thought that running 11 min miles was fast, and regularly have to pinch myself to realize that *I* am normally running in the 9.x min/mile range. You just never, never know .... keep training!
And nicely done yourself!!!
The feeling of crossing the finish line is always intense and exhilirating. Partly relief that I can stop now, partly excitement at crossing the line, a real mix of emotions. It's an adrenaline rush that has to be experienced -- and it's what brings me back for more!

Hi Ladies. I was at a conference so haven't had any time check in and see how everyone is doing but I'm back now and boy, do you ladies post! I'm going to have to look back over everything later though... work kinda gets in the way Take are and keep it up!

Cake, you totally rock! When I do my half in June I just want to be able to finish before they close the course down in 5 hours! lol

so, the workouts I usually get are on my treadmill. I usually go from walking to fast pacing walking to running/more jogging.

I was wondering how long does it take for my endurance to kick up, b/c today I jogged for 8 minutes which is pretty long for me.

and how long do I have to keep at it? Like, should I run/jog/walk everyday??

Welcome Mickey!

I am a beginner so I will let some of the more seasoned runners answer your questions. I will just say that I run every other day to give my joints and such time to heal.

And I weighed in and it's official! I have stepped into ONEDERLAND! WOOOHOOOOOOO!

Hi Mickeypnd - running/jogging is a high impact activity. While I think it is fine to walk everyday, I tend to caution beginners from trying to run every day. Now there are those who go out and run every day and do just fine, but I'm not one of them. I run 4 days per week, max. The other days I cross-train and do all kinds of other things -- strength training, core training, other aerobic activities, etc. It's important to pay attention to how you feel.

It takes a while for your legs to get used to the high impact nature of running. But there are a ton of other things you can do to work on cardio endurance without running. For example, you can set your treadmill on an incline and walk briskly. Or alternate run days with biking, elliptical, stair climber, or rowing machine or swimming -- whatever you have access to and enjoy doing. If you keep working out consistently over time, then improvements will come faster than you think! The important thing is to find activities that you enjoy and will do over an extended period of time.

Eve -

Sounds like lots of good news all around this week!

Eve - Congrats on making it to Onederland!! I'm so happy for you!

MBN - I am in awe of your HM time! Right now the thought of just completing a HM before the course gets shut down is enough to wrap my mind around. Congrats!!

Cake - congrats on your race too! Glad it was a positive experience!!

My week has been pretty uneventful. It has been COLD here and I am not taking well to this weather! I'll admit I've been doing a lot more of my running on the treadmill the last couple of weeks, although I promised myself I'd try another outdoor run this weekend. I am wondering what on earth I was thinking signing up for a Thanksgiving 5K when it's going to be something like 30 degrees out. Oh well, I WILL survive this! Kinda wishing I still lived in Florida right now though...

crk, I totally understand about the cold weather! It's in the 30's here in good old Idaho and on top of that it's extremely windy! Don't worry you will be fine doing your thanksgiving run. I have on in December that I'm worried about because there will probably be snow. I'm just hoping I don't slip and fall! lol

Howdy all - I've missed a bit with the 3fc outage and work getting crazy.

fatpants - woohoo on your race up north - you rock!

cake - you speed demon - sounds like a fantastic race!

eve - congrats on onederland!